CATEGORY: POULTRY
By Scott Russell, Ph.D.
Control of Salmonella,
Campylobacter and Other
Bacteria in Raw Poultry
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Office of Public Health Science, Microbiology Division just released a document entitled, “The Na- tionwide Microbiological Baseline Data Collection
Program: Young Chicken Survey.” The program,
which sampled thousands of chicken carcasses be-
tween July 2007 and June 2008, was designed and
performed by the FSIS to esti-
mate the percent-
age of positive
findings
and
the level
Methods and Findings
From July 2007 to June 2008,
6,550 broiler chicken carcass rinsate
samples were collected at 182 establishments that slaughtered young
chickens and produced whole carcasses under federal inspection. Samples were taken at two different
locations within the plant—rehang,
which is just after the picking system
and is in the front end of the plant,
and post-chill, which is where carcasses are considered fully processed
and where FSIS inspectors usually
collect carcasses for sampling—and
collected from two different shifts.
Carcass rinse samples were evaluated to estimate the percent positive
rate and levels of Salmonella,
Campylobacter, generic Escherichia coli,
aerobic plate count (APC),
Enterobacteriaceae and total coliforms.
The presence and number of these
bacteria were compared to determine
of microbio-
logical
pathogens and indi-
cator bacteria on raw chicken carcasses. This article
details the findings of the study.
Photo 1: Salmonella
Source: www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2005/050308.htm
